Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
There is known an image forming apparatus including a multi-tray device that sorts paper sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus body. The multi-tray device includes a plurality of sheet discharge trays any of which a user may select, a sheet discharge conveyance path that extends in a vertical direction and connects to a base end portion of each of the sheet discharge trays, and a housing portion that internally houses the sheet discharge conveyance path and is mounted on a side surface of the image forming apparatus body. A switch mechanism, which switches a conveyance destination of the paper sheet between the sheet discharge conveyance path and the sheet discharge tray, is mainly housed in the housing portion. An opening and closing cover is mounted on a surface of the image forming apparatus body side in the housing portion. The opening and closing cover turns around an axis extending in the vertical direction as a pivot so as to be openable and closable. The user opens the opening and closing cover to perform a jam process in the sheet discharge conveyance path or similar operation.
A sheet discharge tray portion may be formed over the image forming apparatus body as the above-described image forming apparatus. In this case, a relay device is employed for conveying the paper sheet formed in the image forming apparatus body to the multi-tray device. The relay device is detachably placed on the above-described sheet discharge tray portion. The relay device includes a relay conveyance path that horizontally extends from a sheet discharge exit of the image forming apparatus body to be connected to a sheet feed opening of the multi-tray device, and the housing portion that internally houses this relay conveyance path. An upper side of the housing portion is covered with the opening and closing cover that turns around in the vertical direction using a back end portion as a fulcrum. The user lifts a front end portion of the opening and closing cover to turn it upward, so as to perform the jam process in the relay device.